At War's End
by poohba
Summary: A sequel of sorts to "Last of the Jedi" - After learning the truth of her parentage, Leia remember's her mother's death


At War's End

(Companion story to "Last of the Jedi")

_Time Frame: Just after the conclusion of "Return of the Jedi"_

_Setting: The Ewoks tree-village_

Everywhere there were dancing shadows from the campfires. Ewoks, humans, droids, even a certain Wookie were laughing… celebrating. 

They should, of course. After twenty long years under Emperor Palpatine, tonight the Republic was restored. The so-called "Rebels" had won, as all of them had known that they must. 

So why was Leia still wound up tight as an engine coil? She had spent her entire life fighting for the cause… at an unthinkable cost. She still remembered Darth Vader give the order… and seeing her home planet of Alderaan explode into a million pieces, brighter than any of the stars surrounding it. 

"Father…" she remembered thinking, knowing that Bail Organa had died along with their peaceful home. Organa was the only father figure she'd ever known. He had married her widowed mother, Padme Amidala, when she was just a baby and taken the two of them back with him to quiet, peaceful Alderaan.

In a way, Alderaan was a deceptive planet, for while the people lived in peace under the Emperor's domain, Bail Organa and Padme Amidala were laying the groundwork for the Alliance that would one day overthrow it. But neither of them had lived to see it… both thanks to that despicable Sith Lord Vader.

Leia walked aimlessly along the Ewok catwalks, making sure to hang back in the shadows from the fires. Han would be looking for her, wanting her to join in the celebration. She couldn't do that, not yet. Luke's mood matched her own more closely, she thought, but he had momentarily disappeared too.

It was Luke's fault she was feeling this way. Last night, before the great battle that destroyed the Death Star, he had told her that he was Darth Vader's son… and that she; Princess Leia of Alderaan was his twin sister!

Unthinkable! True, Amidala had died when Leia was so young, she had never mentioned her birth father. And Bail Organa had never mentioned anything connected to Amidala's past after her tragic death. The kind of stories he told her growing up were always about the Grand Old Days of the Republic… Adventures during the Clone Wars… Obi-Wan Kenobi was a revered name in the Organa household.

A few years ago, when Kenobi had actually entered her life, briefly, and brought along with him the callow boy, Luke Skywalker… She'd never dreamed… But, at that point, she was sure Luke hadn't either. Both she and Han were well aware of what Skywalker's original intentions were towards her.

But Darth Vader, her father? Her mind kept coming back to that; twisting with torment. He had once been a great Jedi named Anakin Skywalker. Once he and her mother had been very much in love.

She had wondered why Luke seemed so interested in her childhood memories of her mother the other evening as they'd sat around these very campfires. But she remembered, although a confident Jedi now, he had been raised an orphan, with only old "Ben" Kenobi as his mentor. She had shared what little she remembered: the beautiful face and soothing voice of Padme Amidala. Luke had seemed satisfied and she had thought no more about it.

But now, what else did she remember of her mother? There had to be something…

And in a flash, it came back to her… That horrible day when she was four years old. Only the day of Alderaan's demise came close in her nightmares to the day Amidala died.

The Emperor was sending a delegation to Alderaan for some reason. Perhaps he had heard rumblings of a "Rebel" Alliance and wanted to squash the movement before it had a chance of defeating him. In any case, the Organa household was thrown into a tizzy with the news.

"You and Leia must go into hiding," Leia remembered her father saying.

"No, no," her mother had answered. "It wouldn't do any good. He would know. He might even know now, from orbit." Her mother's voice was frightened in a way Leia had never heard before.

"It's been almost five years," Bail protested. "With all that's happened to him, would he even remember?"

Amidala had put a hand on her husband's cheek and looked into his eyes, "I know he does. Obi-Wan told me Anakin was dead, but as close as the two of them were, he didn't know him in the way that I knew him. If Vader knows I am here, he will find me."

Leia's parents glance had then settled down on her. They must have wondered how much of that she had heard or comprehended. She had heard it all, but here she was almost twenty years later, only now comprehending.

"What about Leia?" her father had asked.

Amidala's hand had moved from her husband to her child. She knelt down beside Leia, "My dear daughter, my only child, now. You must be brave, can you do that for me?" Leia had nodded. She would do anything for her beloved Mama.

Then Amidala had rose and addressed Bail again. "She should be safe. Anakin never met her, would not recognize her…" She paused to think.

Bail came up with a solution, "Perhaps she could do as you used to, dress as a servant… escape detection that way."

"Yes. It might work. It might be the best chance she has," Amidala had knelt again to give Leia a bone-crunching hug. Tears had come to Leia's eyes. Mama was hurting her, but she had a vague sense that something was hurting Mama as well.

Bail rang a bell and one of the servants, an older woman, loyal to the cause, entered. "Take Princess Leia down to the servants quarters and find her an appropriate dress, something that one of your children would wear. I will let you know when it is safe to bring her up again. Don't let her come up again until I do."

"Yes, sir," Mrs. Kartanna had curtseyed and put her arm around little Leia. Leia did not want to move. There were tears in her eyes.

"Be brave, my princess," her father told her while her mother looked at her through tears.

"Come on, love," Mrs. Kartanna nudged her. She was a matronly woman, a favorite of all the children in the manor. She told wonderful stories. But she was not Leia's mother and at that moment Leia wanted nothing to do with her. But somehow, she was led down to the servant's quarters where Mrs. Kartanna found one of her own granddaughters' dresses for her to wear.

The apron had just gone around her waist when Phosphine, Mrs. Kartanna's grown daughter, burst into the servant's quarters. "Lord Vader is here in the house!" she cried in terror. "He wants to see Lady Amidala. He called her by _name_!"

Mrs. Kartanna threw a look down at her young charge. Leia's large eyes looked back at her in terror. She did not quite know who Lord Vader was, but the name was familiar. It was usually spoken throughout the house with contempt and fear. But she had never heard it pronounced with that much fear before.

"Calm yourself, Phosphine," Mrs. Kartanna said. "Hysterics won't help any."

But that was when then heard a crack of lightening from within the walls of the manor. It sounded as if Alderaan was falling to pieces around them. But after the terror of the sound left their hearts, the three looked around and noticed the manor still stood. Mrs. Kartanna sat down then, and was about to pull Leia into her lap for a calming story when they heard a howl of grief coming from upstairs.

It was the painful mourning cry of Bail Organa, whose wife lay dead in his arms. The loud noise they had heard before had been a bolt of electricity Darth Vader had cast straight at Amidala's heart.

Leia, of course, did not know that until she dashed away from the clutches of Mrs. Kartanna and her daughter and raced upstairs. The noise had summoned most of the household, so Leia by no means stuck out in the crowd. Through the legs of one of the servants, she saw her mother's head, lolling lifeless off of her father's lap. The red of her cheeks and lips was already beginning to fade. Her father was bent over the body, his shoulder's shaking in silent grief after pain of the first cry out.

She did not notice the man standing at the other end of the room until he spoke. That was, if you could call him a man, completely covered as he was. The voice that came from behind his eerie black mask was metallic and cold, "Think on this, Bail Organa. This is the fate of all traitors of the Empire."

With that the terrifying figure turned on his heel and walked out of the hall, back to his transport ship.

There were thirty people left in the room and no one made a sound for minutes. Finally, Bail lifted his head to reveal red, puffy eyes and looked around the room. Spotting his daughter in the midst of the crowd, he beckoned her.

"Come look on your mother, my princess," he said softly. Leia had never heard her father's voice sound like this before; broken, defeated. "Look on her now, for you never will again. But always remember that it was Darth Vader that did this too her. Vader and his evil Emperor."

Leia had looked, and then Bail had taken her in his arms. They were all the family that either of them had left.

Or she had always thought… 

But within the time frame of the last several days, she had gained a brother… and a had found out the birth father she had never known was the man she'd always hated for killing her mother. It was too much to take in.

And then, there was Luke coming out of the shadows. He said nothing. He merely extended his arms and the siblings hugged. He knew what was running through her mind. Of course he did, through some combination of Jedi mind trick and twin empathy. He had been through it himself. It was just newer to her. He had had time to work through some of it. And he had seen Anakin Skywalker, their father, restored from the Dark Side just this afternoon.

"Hey you two. You're missing out on the party." 

Han Solo had found them. And he cast a suspicious eye at Luke. Han was having a hard time switching gears. He was used to Luke being a rival, albeit one that didn't stand much of a chance with Leia. And here Luke was, proclaiming himself Leia's brother, embracing his sister.

Leia and Luke opened up and let Han in on a three-way hug. "Everything's fine now," Leia said to him. "We're all family and we're all together again."

Off, further out in the forest, unnoticed, three shadowy figures had just finished a similar reunion. Now, Amidala and Anakin stood looking up through the trees at their children. With smiles of gratitude on their faces, they turned to Obi-Wan, who had given all he had to protect the twins from the Dark Side.

Slowly, his image faded away. Amidala and Anakin stood a moment longer. Then, holding hands, they too disappeared into the night.


End file.
